I'm sure 95 % of you are running your system with one monitor. Primarily because that is the default for any computer. What if i told you that running your system with dual monitors or even triple monitors will increase your user performance extensively?

Ways it helps:
- can play some games while instant messaging, writing emails, watching movie on other screen, looking up something online, etc...
- Helps with working on websites or other programming, because code can be on one side, while the preview image is on the other monitor.
- Spreads the space out so you have more table top room, which allows you to use it more efficiently.
- Working on essays: you can have your word processor on one side and your source on the other monitor.

their are an exponensial amount of pro's to having dual/trip monitors.

this is how to get it working:

in order for all of this to work, you obviously need another monitor or a tv next to your computer.

Step 1:
- check your computer hardware guide to see what kind of graphic card your computer supports (AGP, or PCI).
- after checking which kind of port your computer offers buy a video card, a good place to do research for one is http://tomshardware.com and an excelent place to buy is http://newegg.com
- Nvidia is better w/ dual monitors than Radeon are more effective w/ games.

Step 2:
- now that you have your video card, it's time to install it.
- Make sure your computer is turned off for this next step.
- take the case off of your computer and your motherboard manual should show you where the video card port is.
- it should click right in.
- after the hardware is installed into your computer, you now must instal the software required to run it.

Step 3: FOR A MONITOR
- plug the primary monitor into the video card monitor port, and plug the secondary monitor into the default computer monitor port.

Step 3:FOR A TV WITH SVIDEO
- if you don't have an svideo chord that can reach from your tv to your computer then buy one or move your tv closer.
- plug the chord into the svideo input in the video card, then plug the other end into the tv svideo input.

Step 3: FOR A TV W/OUT SVIDEO OPTION
- buy an Svideo --> RCA male/IN adapter, at radioshack and best buy they are about 20 dollars, but i bought one on ebay fro 99 cents w/out shipping.
- then plug the svideo chord to the svideo option in the video card panel, then plug the other end to the adapter, then the adapter to one of your rca inputs.

Step 4:
- turn on your computer, a prompt should come up saying your computer has revieled new hardware. put in the software installation cd, which should be included, if not go to the website of your video card manufacturer and download the driver for the specified video card.
- after the driver/software is installed install any extra required programs, i.e. upgraded directX version... restart your computer.

Step 5:
- both monitors should be working when the computer is rebooted. If not then right click on the desktop--> properties --> settings --> click on the video card monitor should be a little box w/ monitors, activate the check box that say "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor." if already activated, go to the other monitor.
- if there is only one monitor click "advanced" --> click the tab of the video card --> dual displays or display settings.

any questions just pm me or email me

thanks,
matt

This looks more easy than it realy is. Dual Monitor shouldn't pose any problems, but when you start connecting a TV it gets harder.
There are a lot of problems you can get, like totaly nothing, or only grayscale, scattered view, ...
Google should normaly give a solution for the problem.

Another nice thing about todays technology is MORE, what about ... 4 monitors . You only need SLI setup that isn't configed as a SLI setup (tough I thing nV has already changed that, so you can have 4 monitors in SLI).

There also on thing I doubt about, is it realy possible to have 2 monitors and a TV connected to your graka at the same time ???

YES, it is possible to have 2 monitors and your tv set up at the same time, however, it is not possible, i believe, to have all 3 monitors as different desktop space...

the 2 monitors are expanded desktops, where the tv is a "clone" to the primary monitor. I mean, why would you want a seperate desktop on the tv anyways unless you have the best video card/tv setup, the quality on the tv won't be up to par to be able to do much with the desktop and everyday needs.

then that brings you to the question "why would you want the tv plugged in if you're saying the quality isn't good?"

i'm not saying the quality isn't good... all the time. The best part of having your tv as a 3rd monitor is mainly when you're watching a movie, or working on video editing/graphic design, it is possible to have the display autospanned to the tv in full screen so you get the full effect, and the full screen span is at top quality. it works great.

also helps while working in power points, you can work on the power point on your primary monitor, while the final view of the slide is displayed on your tv. MARVELS!!

thanks,
matt

apparently the only restriction on the amount seperate desktop monitors is have many graphics cards and what drivers you have. i myself have seen three screen audio editing computers.

you are right, i was relating to the tutorial which involves just one video card, my bad, good catch.

triple monitors will slow down your computer. usually if you can afford a bigger monitor you can afford a better computer so what can fit on your monitor is what the computer can handle. thats how i look at it anyways i have 3 monitors but it got confusing because sometimes i did'nt have all 3 on and a window would jump to another one. mind you on my mac i used an extension cord to use our tv as a paralell monitor so i can show people slide shows etc off the tv etc. the two monitors are mirrored and not seperate.

I remember seeing it somewhere that Windows 98 can connect a maximum of 7 monitors if you have the hardware capability, capacity or even money

I don't think it will maximize productivity by much. A Dell infomercial said that widescreen monitors can improve productivity by up to 37%, because you can tile windows vertically but that should be sufficient. Also, with blazing fast Alt+Tab switching key combinations, you'll soon notice that there is not much difference.

Although the entire process is easy, I don't think it will be necessary for gamers, home users or anyone else, unless you need hardcore 12 windows visible at once.

I don't think the amount of monitors should slow down your computer. I have worked with with computer with as much as 4 monitors connected to one workstation (one video card). I disconnect and reconnect a bunch of these and then test them out. I didn't notice any lag or slowdown at all. On top of that, these are not exactly top notch computers.

The main thing you need to do (configuring-wise), is to enable those monitors so they can be extended. Then putting them in a order that's fit for you....left to right, or whatever position your monitors are in.

Having multiple monitors is more than just having more space. It can be a huge time saver for some people...say those on a trading floor. They have mulitple programs opened and each program have it's own monitor. Try doing that on a single monitor at full size for each program...not quite possible if you ask me

ok, well i tried connecting my TV to my computer via the svideo port on my video card and I ran into trouble.

For one, it doesn't appear as though my computer is recognizing that the TV is there....it simply doesn't seem to have any options for it....

It lists my card has Nvidia Gforce 2 MX 400 w/ TV Out

so I am not sure what I am doing wrong here....

Can anybody lead me on the right path?

If you are having trouble setting up with 2 graphics cards, you can look into buying display cards that support multiple monitors. They are much easier setting up and running. For example Matrox has graphic cards that can connect 2 displays and their drivers make the installation fairly easy. I am sure there are other manufactors too.

One thing I can tell you, once you have a computer with 2 displays and get used to working with them you will never go back to a single display computer.

Nice guide there, i know a few guys that have tried dual monitors and it does give a big advantage. Especially things when they are playing games, they no longer need to alt tab out of the game which can be a pain for guys with low memory.
Very handy to have though i don't know of any performance issues.

-HellFire

how many monitor can be connected
How To Connect Dual/triple Monitor + Advantages

I have an english language multi-media cafe. I would like to have the following available for students to choose from: a tv showing video, three monitors showing different windows.

Is this possible? will I need three graphic cards? will there be any loss in speed, I.E., will videos showing become jerky or will they have the same quality as if 1 monitor was used? thanks.

Also, does sandisk's new taketv give better video quality than svideo from computer? oh, and are long 15' svideo cables available or expensive to have made? thanks.

-john jackson

Connect multiple screen
How To Connect Dual/triple Monitor + Advantages

Replying to WeaponX
Hi, I would like to know if I add a pci graphic card on my pc, will a be able to add another screen to it.

-reply by codeblix

2 monitors and 1 TV
How To Connect Dual/triple Monitor + Advantages

I have a dual display radeon card at home however for the time being I have my monitor and tv hooked up as an extended desktop. I would like to hook up another monitor all the while still have my TV hooked up as well. What would be the best way to go about this? use my video card and hook up both monitors and then make other arrangements for my TV? or to hook up a monitor and a TV to my video card and buy another card for my second monitor? I have a radeon x1650Pro any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

-reply by Slayter

I am working with a system integrator to put together a machine for heavy use of virtualization. He has put together lots of desktop and server systems with multiple monitors. His comment is that it is much better to get a single video card with multple monitor support, instead of adding another video card to a system that already has video support.

The problem with multiple video cards is that each makes heavy use of interrupts, and there is the potential for many conflicts at the system level.

That said, it appears that some careful shopping is appropriate. NexTag currently lists a Matrox G200 MMS Quad VGA/TV Tuner for only $119, but the description has a raft of strikeouts, and Matrox does not currently list it. A current offering is G450x4 MMS, which NexTag has for $449.

There appear to be 3 markets for 4x video cards: financial, server-workstations and gaming. Before selecting such a card, you need to decide how much speed, resolution and 3D multithreading capability you need, because the fancy cards get expensive fast.

Triple, or quadruple monitors seems a bit much. I use a laptop, and when I'm doing anything related to photography, I switch on an external monitor which works with the lapotop screen to give me more space. I usually maximise a program like GIMP on the external monitor, and also use the external monitor to test how my web design looks at other screen resolutions, which is useful and easier and quicker than changing my screen resolution on my laptop screen.

Hey I too would like to jump on the mulit-monitor band wagon. I am currently using a 27inch Sony TV at 1360x768 with a VGA cable. My question is how does HDMI come into play. Like say if I want to invest in a 32-46" wide screen. What do I look for in a TV. And what would be compatible as far as video cards go. How would I get the best performance across all monitors? Hows does SLI or Crossfire come into play in multi-monitor configurations? Are there any good web sites out there which someone can refer me too>

My current usage would be for photo editing (high resolution), photo studio (live camera caputure/display), gaming (graphic performance/response). And maybe video editing once I acquire a video camercorder.

Recently, I bought a computer with an ATI 128MB video card that has 2 ports, 1 DVI and 1 VGA. I was wondering if it was safe to connect 2 monitors to both of the ports. There is also a yellow video out port, but I think that is for plugging in a VCR player.

I have a Radeon 9550 video card which has one analog and one digital output. I bought a second analog monitor (cheaper than digital) so I could double the screen real-estate. All that was required was an adaptor to plug the second analog monitor into the digital plug. The next time Windows 2000 Pro booted up, it noticed the second monitor and asked me to configure it. Basically, Windows wants to know where it is physically located (left, right, top, bottom) and what resolution it should have.

I suggest you give that some thought. My normal configuration is stock market windows on the right (original) screen, and browsers, etc. on the left screen. I use a Zone Alarm firewall. I have it set so programs that want to use the internet have to ask permission of me. "Permission" is granted in a pop-up window in the lower-right corner of the right screen. If I had thought more about it, I would have located that in the lower-right corner of the left monitor -- in the middle of the extended desktop, reducing mouse travel. (Yeah, I could change it. Yeah, I'm lazy. )

All is not roses with two monitors. This computer also boots SuSE Linux 10.1. SuSE was installed with just one monitor. Now, when it boots up, it recognizes the second monitor, but it doesn't really understand what to do with it. The initial bootup splash screen comes up on both monitors, but when it brings up X-Windows for the desktop, the second monitor goes blank except for the message: OUT OF RANGE, meaning that SuSE has told the video card to use a higher frequency than the monitor can support. It is presumably using the (higher) specs for the original monitor.

There are some more cautions if you are using Linux and an older monitor, or a basic video card. About 8 years ago, I fried a monitor running SuSE (about version 6, as I recall). Older monitors may not check whether they are being overdriven, and Windows is better than Linux was at avoiding the problem. An overdriven monitor can literally melt the electronic components in the drive circuits.

More recently, I fried a video card using a Linux screen saver. SuSE has (or at least had) a Matrix screensaver, which did an excellent imitation of the computer screens you saw in the movie. I liked it so much that I left it up on this computer. After about a month of that, the text on the monitor started getting "jumpy." I finally realized that the vector graphics in that "screen-saver" were driving the video card so hard that it began to fail.

Wow that's interesting, how an operating system can mess up hardware. I'm only running Windows here - for now. Did it ruin because of the vertical and horizontal resolution? I found a 21 inch HP monitor that someone was going to throw away along with some other printers, and a dvd player. I happen to salvage the DVD player and 2 of the 5 printers, and 1 of two computer monitors.

The problem with the monitor was is was acting all weird. It came on and everything but seemed like different refresh rates would not work no matter which resolution I used. Since I have no experience with fixing CRT monitors I had no choice put to take it to the local recyclers. Sad, it would of been better than my 19" monitor. I think it may have been fried by the previous owners.

I normally could usean additional monitor (atv set). But all of a sudden the second monitor could not be evoked. I went to display-settings and tried to enable the second monitor but I couldn't be enabled. Can anybody help?

Thanks,
Jurek

-reply by Jurek

Replying to rbf1787
Hi matt just reading your how to artical I want to connect another monitor
To my pc. I have an nvida card in allready, it's has a dvi and vga port
I'm in the learning process I have an intrest in pc maintance and would like to try this myself. Can you give my any tips & advice
Thank you in advance
Colette.

-reply by colette

2nd MonitorHow To Connect Dual/triple Monitor + Advantages

I have 2 monitors and my video card is a Radeon 9200. It has a standard db15 plug and an RCA jack on it. I tried using my 2nd monitor with no luck.I bought a gender changer and a pigtail which has a male db15, an svideo jack and a female RCA jack. I tried plugging in the gender changer and a male RCA jack in turn connecting that to the female RCA on my video card but the monitor remained black.I know the jack works because I used it to connect a TV once as a 2nd monitor for a Karoake show.What am I doing wrong or is the RCA jack not supported for a monitor. Any help would be appreciated.Rich

-question by Rich

Dual head abilityHow To Connect Dual/triple Monitor + AdvantagesDownload ATI's catalyst control and then select "basic" work through the setup a couple of times and you will figure out how to do dual monitors. It operates in windows and though its designed for Radeon monitors it worked well. I have used the program download on both my dell & later my wife's Compaq flat monitors as second screens. You can fin it at www.Ati.Com and once there type "catalyst control" on the search bar then you can search by OS type, 2000, XP, Vista, Linux etc...

Descriptive Title for Opinion/FeedbackHow To Connect Dual/triple Monitor + Advantages

hi John

I tryed adding two video cards to my pc but when I put the second one

in it knock out my main one can you help if you can, can you e-mail me

at alan01@live.Co.Uk

  king regards alan 

-reply by Author Name - e.G. John, MikeKeywords:

Monitors + TVHow To Connect Dual/triple Monitor + Advantages

"There also on thing I doubt about, is it realy possible to have 2 monitors and a TV connected to your graka at the same time ???" <- Of course it's possible. I have 3 monitors connected, all three working; PLUS a 42" LCD TV, so 4 monitors total. I also have the ability to output to two more screens using component video (Y Pb Pr). I've got 2 video cards, one nVidia GeForce 7600 GS and one nVidia GeForce 9600 GT.

-reply by COTP

 

I had to buy another outlet to fix to the back of my PC (unlike the laptop which already can support 2 monitors) Eventually I managed to fix it all together and it is the best thing I have done for the PC. It has improved functionality. I have an article open on one screen and summarize the same on the other. I am now looking to get a PC that supports 4 monitors so I can have outlook open in the third and I'm and Active sync in the fourth. It is just fabulous having multiple monitors!

 

Dual monitors separate resolutions?How To Connect Dual/triple Monitor + Advantages

After some time of using a MAG 19" widescreen 1440 X 900. For a second monitor, I just purchased a HannSpree  HF237 (BestBuy)with a default resolution of 1920 by 1080. I need to know how to set each monitor to its best (default) resolution.When I go to the properties /display from (rightclick) main screen, it wants to change both monitors simultaneously. Otherwise, I was able to set it up so both monitors act as an extension of each other. Left to right mouse movement (drag monitors on property setups. Both have same wallpaper (would like to change that) and set sleep times separately for both monitors. The new monitor is used primarily for graphics while the old 19"wide screen for WP etc.

I have an NVidia gforce 8500 card which works well.

Hoping I don't need a second 23" monitor.. 

-reply by Antique

Just bought a new ati radeon x700 pro and was wondering if I should run dual monitors on it. I want to be able to play games like half life 2 and doom on it, but I hear from other people that it can make the gameplay slower and laggier. I don't know if it's true or not and that's why I n ...more

Dual monitors are awesome, but how cool would it be if you could get an image to span across both monitors, rather than the image being cloned on both monitors? This is how to do it: take and image that has the dimensions desired, save it on your hardrive. then ...more

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